Visual display units or messaging devices are capable of displaying visual messages and symbols using an array of illuminating members, such as LEDs (light emitting diodes). Typical power sources for such devices are alternating current power sources such as might power a computer or other electronic device. Typical LED displays can emit red, green and yellow pixels. In conventional LED displays, yellow color is achieved by powering both a red and green LED die within the same pixel simultaneously. The human eye integrates the two colors to form yellow. In this manner, the color yellow requires twice as much current as simply displaying red or green.
Network-enabled messaging devices can receive messages and instructions for displaying messages from a computer or other remote device connected through a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN) or the Internet, for example. IEEE standard 802.3af for Power over Ethernet (PoE) allows power to be provided through a single conduit such as a standard LAN cable (e.g., twisted pair, CAT-5), for example. However, PoE circuits are limited to providing only 15.4 Watts of power. As such, traditional LED displays cannot take advantage of PoE technology, because they cannot operate on lower wattage power sources to sufficiently power the operating needs of the device.